Multisensory programs in the public schools: A brighter future for LD children

A longitudinal study followed the progress of a group of elementary SLD students as they were instructed using the Alphabetic Phonics (AP) curriculum. After a three year period, the AP curriculum produced positive results in reading comprehension for most SLD students, particularly those who began the program in first and second grade. Students in resource and self-contained settings made significant gains in reading comprehension, although the two types of students exhibited different patterns of progress. Students of different ability levels responded differently to the AP curriculum. Average and above average students made significant progress in reading comprehension, but below average students did not advance substantially in relation to their ability level. At the end of three years, classroom teachers had a significantly more positive view of students’ word attack, oral reading, and silent reading comprehension skills.     

Professional currency among midcareer college faculty: Family and work factors

This study examined work and family factors that differentiate midcareer faculty members who were current from less current faculty with regard to the disciplinary knowledge base. The sample included 97 faculty (69 males, 28 females; 72 English, 25 Engineering) and their spouses. Cluster analyses of the work and family variables identified faculty subgroups within discipline. ANCOVAs showed a significant relationship between the clustered work-family profiles and levels of currency.Family differences: Current faculty and spouses reported spending more time on family-related responsibilities and experiencing greater stress from combined work-family responsibilities. Current Engineering faculty reported less flexibility in reallocating family responsibilities.Work differences: Faculty reported a greater commitment to their careers and to professional development: They reported higher scores on the Inner Work Standards scale; current English faculty read more professional journals and spent more time on research; current Engineering faculty spent more time on research and had more publications.     

Understanding the Link Between Noncognitive Attributes and College Retention

The attention to students’ noncognitive attributes has recently flourished within academic research and public discourse. This paper adds to the literature by examining the interrelationships among several key noncognitive attributes as well as exploring direct and indirect relationships between noncognitive attributes and second-year retention. Within a multi-institutional sample of 10,622 students, academic self-efficacy, academic grit, self-discipline, and time management all load onto a single noncognitive factor with strong inter-item correlations and internal reliability. Moreover, structural equation modeling analyses indicate a sizable and positive indirect effect of noncognitive attributes on college retention, which is mediated by social adjustment, institutional commitment, and college grade point average.

     

Service Learning in Preschool: An Intergenerational Project Involving Five–Year-Olds, Fifth Graders, and Senior Citizens

Service Learning is a powerful form of experiential pedagogy that is gaining popularity in classrooms from preprimary settings through graduate school. It involves students in activities that explicitly and intentionally integrate community involvement with appropriate academic objectives. This article describes an intergenerational service learning project that brought together preschoolers, golden-agers, and at-risk elementary-aged students. Lunch Time Book Buddies—Pass It On included both direct service and indirect service and made valuable contributions to young children's developing literacy, social-emotional, physical, and cognitive abilities.     

A More Fine-Grained Measure of Students' Acceptance of Evolution: Development of the Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance—I-SEA

The potential influences of affective perceptions on cognitive engagement in learning, particularly with emotionally charged topics such as evolution, provide justification for acknowledging and assessing learners' attitudes toward content. One approach to determining students' attitudes toward a construct is to explicitly ask them to what degree they accept the related content. This was the approach we took as we developed the Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance. Our goal was to make a finer-grained instrument that would assess acceptance on three evolution subscales: microevolution, macroevolution, and human evolution. Further, we sought to not conflate understanding with acceptance of the constructs. We began our instrument development with a series of interviews and open-ended questionnaires to determine students' perceptions of evolution acceptance. Based on the responses we developed and field tested a 49-item Likert scale instrument with stems distributed across our three targeted subscales. Using the data from our field test, we reduced the instrument to 24 items evenly distributed across the three subscales, and the revised instrument was again field tested with high school and undergraduate college students. The final instrument has an internal reliability of Cronbach's alpha of 0.96 and the items loaded onto three components that reflect documented evolution acceptance conditions. The instrument development, implications, and applications are discussed.